Sustaining Tomorrow via Innovative Engineering

The following sections are included:

• Dedication
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Table of Contents

As the global population continues to increase, so does the demand for energy. It is unlikely that this increased demand can be met by the ubiquitous fossil fuel sources alone and, therefore, the use of other energy sources will need to expand. Fortunately, there are numerous sources of energy and many different methods for converting that energy into useful forms, like electricity. Indeed, the United Nations is seeking to increase access to electricity by all people as part of their overarching goal to eliminate global poverty. At the same time, because of the projections and observations surrounding climate change models, the elimination of fossil fuels, and their “harmful” atmospheric emissions, has been promoted. Fossil fuels would be replaced by sustainable and renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power. Some of the richer countries, like Germany and Denmark, have already acted vigorously on such replacements. However, the largest users of energy and producers of emissions still only obtain a small, but increasing, percentage of their energy from nonrenewable sources. Moreover, despite the laudable United Nations (UN) goals, and those of the “Paris Agreement” over a third of the global population cannot access clean cooking fuels, and many millions still live in abject poverty. In such circumstances is it possible to have a global agreement on a universally acceptable energy mix, which includes a complete transition away from fossil fuels? If not, what are the alternatives? These questions are explored in this chapter.

Senegal is located in West Africa with a population close to 16 million inhabitants unequally distributed on a land of 196,722 km² area. In the 2000s, a national energy information system (known as SIE-Sénégal) aiming at monitoring and forecasting the energy demand and the efficient planning of the energy infrastructure was put in place in the Ministry of Oil and Energies. A lot of data were recorded of which some are analyzed and presented here for a better understanding of the energy system of Senegal. In the period 2000–2013, the energy demand has been increasing reaching 3.72 Mtoe in 2013. The demand is covered by imported fossil fuels and traditional biomass. The energy consumption has been increasing in the same period from 1.69 Mtoe in 2000 up to 2.56 Mtoe in 2013. The energy pattern shows a lion’s share for the residential sector followed by the transport and industrial sectors. In the residential sector, firewood is the main fuel, and electricity is deemed marginal. The transport sector is dominated by the road subsector where diesel oil represents 81% of the energy use. In the industrial sector, more than 80% of energy used is from fossil origin and the share of coal is becoming significant.

The energy sector is undergoing a transformation, from fossil fuels to renewable sources. The expansion of these latest technologies is usually based on sources such as wind or photovoltaic. Therefore, the need arises to search for energy storage processes, to decouple production from demand. Moreover, intermittent renewable energies are unpredictable. Hydrogen technology emerges as one of the most promising option to store huge amount of energy (necessary to manage electricity network). Hydrogen is not a renewable resource, although it can be produced by renewable energy sources like solar energy, wind energy, and hydropower. Therefore, this chapter aims to review the four squares of hydrogen implementation in order to evaluate the state of the art, resulting in a proposal for a storage system able to connect the main cornerstones of hydrogen. Moreover, the proposed system tries to overcome the current barriers that delimit the use of renewable energies.

Solar air heater (SAH) is the easiest and the most effective way to utilize and convert solar energy into thermal energy for heating applications. SAHs are used widely in household and industrial applications. Poor thermal efficiency of SAHs has encouraged researchers to improve its thermal performance. The use of artificial roughness on absorber plate surface is the key technique for augmenting heat transfer with minimal friction factor penalty. Due to artificial roughness laminar sublayer developed below absorber plate gets broken and helps to increase turbulence of air leading to an increase in heat transfer from absorber plate to air. Numerous studies have been conducted to find the effect of various V-rib artificial roughness geometries on heat transfer and frictional performance of SAHs. In the current book chapter, an attempt has been made to summarize V-shaped artificial roughness geometries used in SAH that augments its performance. Correlations developed for heat transfer and friction factor for V-rib geometries used in SAHs by various researchers have been presented. Based on heat transfer and friction factor correlations developed by investigators an attempt has also been made to compare thermo-hydraulic performance of V-rib roughness geometries used in SAHs.

Green retrofitting aging buildings is one of the cornerstones of sustainable development. This chapter investigates innovative technologies, trends, and practices of retrofitting tall and supertall buildings. It enlightens about practical design approaches, clarifies misconceptions, and offers useful directions. The chapter also reviews significant green retrofit projects of tall and supertall buildings and highlights the continuing challenges that building owners, architects, and engineers face in the path of green retrofits.

Each type of rural building example has different materials and construction techniques based on the geographic and topographic conditions of their location. This generates unique architectural identities that are also shaped by cultural norms of the region. While rural buildings are in the same climate zone, they can have different planning types and configurations. Different types of building form can also be seen in close settlements. This diversity is born of optimal adaptation to climatic comfort conditions, depending on the differences in construction materials. For this reason, the most effective parameters in evaluating performance differences are a range of housing types, space organizations, building forms, construction systems, and material types used. Conventional architecture would suggest that efficient design thinking creates appropriate climatic conditions without utilizing excessive power. The building forms’ thermal efficiency, which is produced from traditional architecture, is assessed within the characterized settlement textures and the conclusions existing. The interplay between energy loads, building form, and settlement texture will help to drive the evolved architecture that will enhance efficiency even further.

This paper proposes to investigate the settlement texture and building form’s impact on energy efficiency by analyzing the project characteristics of traditional Diyarbakır, Turkey, rural area buildings. This will be conducted through the Ecotect simulation program. The quality and quantity of the add-on architectural plans in rural houses in Diyarbakır were analyzed in terms of their energy efficiency. The intent is to preserve and maintain rural architectural identity elements shaped by the data obtained from the physical and natural environment. In this way, two exemplary rural architectures have been studied to educate designers in the ways of livable and energy-efficient space creation—while maintaining a sustainable and traditional rural culture. The buildings’ outer surface area and volume were increased incrementally. The first of the house types investigated was enlarged in three stages and the second in four stages. Comparing the A/V ratio in the first stage and the area/volume ratio in the last stage, House1 and House2 achieved 42.93% and 75.96% energy efficiency at life space, respectively.

Pollution is a global problem, yet represented by numerous smaller issues at a local level. Greenhouse warming is a global issue that despite its increasing impact remains debated. Regionally, acid rain damaged the forests and lakes of Europe and North America, but was successfully addressed by controlling emissions. Nevertheless, it persists and has become characteristic of China and India. The upper parts of the atmosphere are contaminated by chlorine derived from refrigerants that enhance ozone depletion, though international agreements have reduced this problem. Biomass burning, volcanoes, and windblown dust are seemingly natural processes, yet cause widespread health problems and disrupt air traffic. In the oceans, oil pollution has long been a major problem, although in the current decade it is plastic pollution that has come to dominate public concern. Local air pollution problems typify cities, but are also found around large industrial plants. Air pollutants arise directly as exhaust gases, but are also formed from reactions in the atmosphere, which lead to photochemical smog. Cities additionally suffer from urban runoff that runs across hard surfaces, such as roads and leads to flooding and polluted water. Factories, sewage works, and large point sources add to water pollutants. Legal and fiscal responses, add to technical controls as potential solutions to environmental problems.

Coastal urbanization has resulted in profound and permanent environmental change. The Seaward shift of shorelines protected by solid seawalls eliminated the entire biologically productive intertidal zone leading to loss of valuable ecosystem services and leaving almost no opportunity to restore habitats. Artificial structures of the urban waterfront can support biodiversity but have severe space constraints. Ecological engineering of the seaward face of seawalls, which literally represents a highly compressed intertidal zone, can increase its biodiversity supporting capacity to a limited extent but cannot accommodate habitat regeneration. Coastal defence against sea level rise is imperative and seawalls remain as the immediate barrier. Instead of simply considering how to make a “dead” seawall higher and stronger, it will be prudent to think of transforming it into a “living” seawall or better, an eco-engineered zone that incorporates a complex of intertidal pools and lagoons, in which coastal and nearshore habitats can be restored. This nearshore biodiversity reclamation approach will help to restore ecosystem services over the long term and improve coastal area sustainability.

Sustainable development goals (SDGs) acknowledge the interlinkages between human well-being, economic prosperity, and a healthy environment, and hence, are associated with a wide range of topical issues that include the securities of water, energy, and food (WEF) resources, poverty eradication, economic development, climate change, health, among others. As SDGs are assessed through targets to be achieved by 2030 and monitored through measurable indicators, nexus planning was applied as a transformative approach to monitor and assess progress toward SDG in 2015 and 2018 using South Africa. WEF nexus-related SDGs that were evaluated include Goals 2 (zero hunger), 6 (clean water and sanitation), and 7 (affordable and clean energy). The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used to integrate indicators for each of the reference years. Resource management and implementation of WEF-related SDGs improved by 31% (from 0.155 to 0.203) between 2015 and 2018 in South Africa but remained marginally sustainable. The assessment provided an evidence-based support framework for improved and effective management strategies to meet set SDG targets. The connections between the WEF nexus and SDGs strengthen cross-sectoral collaboration among stakeholders, unpack measures for cooperative governance and management, and supporting outcomes that arise from different cross-sectoral interventions. As food production, water provision, and energy accessibility are the major socio-economic and environmental issues currently attracting global attention, the method enhances climate change adaptation.

The following section is included:

• Index